Chris Paul wants to go to the Knicks. Chris Paul also would like a massive payday of a bird-rights extension — five years and $100 million.

But he can’t get those two things the way Carmelo Anthony did, the new collective bargaining agreement takes that away. The Hornets could (in theory) do a sign-and-trade with the Knicks, but then the max-deal CP3 could receive would be the same as if the Knicks signed him as a free agent (four years, $74 million).

But there is a path to Paul being on the Knicks with a $100 million max deal.

Force the Hornets to trade him to the Knicks without signing a contract extension in the process. This is the tricky part. The Hornets don’t have to trade Paul, and if they decide to, they don’t have to trade him to New York. Other teams have better assets, and Paul will be counting on those teams to bow out of the bidding if they think he will not re-sign there. Does this sound familiar?

The Hornets are not going to trade Chris Paul to the Knicks. First because the Knicks do not have the assets (picks and young players) needed as they sent them all to Denver to get Carmelo Anthony. (New York could, in theory, bring in a third and maybe fourth team to get the assets needed, but those are complex deals to pull off.)

The other thing is that the league owns the Hornets right now — after an entire lockout where David Stern preached “competitive balance” there is no way the league is going to sign off on trading a superstar to complete a trio in New York. The other owners would not tolerate it.

If Paul were somehow able to get traded to the Knicks the path to the max deal is really pretty simple, if a bit risky for the team.

If the Hornets eventually surrender and deal him to New York, Paul’s Bird Rights go with him. He must then become a free agent, either by declining his player option for 2012-13, or accepting that option, playing that season and becoming a free agent in the summer of 2013. By entering free agency as a Knick, Paul would escape the limitations in years and money that would come with engaging in a Carmelo-type extend-and-trade deal under this new collective bargaining agreement.

The last step is easy: Sign a five-year, $100 million extension with New York. The Knicks would have his Bird Rights, so they could exceed the cap as much as they wish to retain Paul.

Some player down the line is going to follow this pattern to get his max deal. Teams prefer the certainty of a sign-and-trade but if you trust the player doesn’t walk when he becomes a free agent this is doable. It is sort of what Deron Williams is doing now with the Nets — he may re-sign there but he wants to become a free agent to get the bigger payday.

But not Chris Paul. If he goes to the Knicks it will be as a free agent next summer.

In fact, in Saturday’s dunk contest, he didn’t look like a dunker at all.

The Pacers star missed all three attempts of his first dunk, and a Black Panther mask was by far the biggest draw of his second. Oladipo was eliminated after the first round.

Maybe Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t the only eliminated dunker who left something in his bag. This Oladipo dunk – 180 degrees, throwing ball off the backboard with his left hand while in mid-air, dunking with his right hand – while preparing in Los Angeles was awesome.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’d be surprised if Kawhi Leonard played again this season, a stark reversal from just a month ago. Back then, even while announcing Leonard was out indefinitely with a quad injury, the San Antonio coach said Leonard wouldn’t miss the rest of the season.

After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he’s prepared to play again, sources told ESPN.

Leonard has been medically cleared to return from the right quad tendinopathy injury, but since shutting down a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended Jan. 13, he has elected against returning to the active roster, sources said.

The uncertainty surrounding this season — and Leonard’s future which could include free agency in the summer of 2019 — has inspired a palpable stress around the organization, league sources said.

At first glance, this sounds like Derrick Rose five years ago. Even after he was cleared to play following a torn ACL, the then-Bulls star remained mysterious about when he’d suit up. His confidence in his physical abilities seemed to be a major issue, and he was never the same player since (suffering more leg injuries).

But the Spurs famously favor resting players to preserve long-term health. They seem unlikely to rush back Leonard. They might even sit players who want to play more often. And Leonard isn’t Rose.

Still, it’s clear something is amiss in San Antonio. Maybe not amiss enough to end Leonard’s tenure there, but the longer this lingers, the more time for tension to percolate.